A Serpent's Tooth
by Jen Rock
Summary: Stitches never asked to be a father. But he thought he'd done a pretty good job of it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters are property of the mighty Disney Company.

I've only seen Sky High for the first time a few months ago and I really liked it. Warren was awesome, of course, and all the other kids and the humor was great. But one of the most fascinating things in it to me was the idea that Stitches actually raised Sue/Gwen after she was turned into a baby. I liked Stitches anyway but that was such an interesting situation that I just had to write about it. So here it is:

A Serpent's Tooth

Stitches ran for several miles from the warehouse before the cries of the baby cradled in his arms forced him to stop. Everything had gone wrong so quickly that the jester-outfitted minion had had no time to think about his actions. He'd simply scooped Pacified Sue up and fled from the scene before any of the heroes even knew what had happened.

Now he crouched in a wooded area of Maxville Park and stared at the infant who stared back at him with unfocused eyes. Tonight was supposed to be their moment of triumph. Once Royal Pain defeated the Commander and turned him into a helpless baby, the other heroes would fall as well.

The Commander was the greatest of them all and not only would it have been demoralizing to his fellow heroes to realize his defeat but there were none who could match him for sheer power. Royal Pain had plans for how to neutralize the powers of any of the others. Only the Commander had stood in her way. If Jetstream hadn't interfered, Royal Pain would be well on her way to ruling the world and as her faithful follower, Stitches himself would become one of the most powerful people on the planet.

But now everything was ruined. Sue fussed a little in his arms and then her little fists reached out for his jester's cap. He shook his head a bit to keep it out of her reach and she giggled as the cap bobbed around just out of reach.

What was he supposed to do now? He was no babysitter. Sure, if her plan had worked, he would have helped take care of the heroes-turned-infants but he wouldn't have to do everything. Sue would have hired an evil nanny or something.

He considered going back, trying to get the Pacifier away from the Commander and Jetstream but he knew it was futile. After the blast that had hit Sue, the Commander had broken it against the wall. The only one who knew how to fix it was currently cooing and trying to fit her fist in her mouth.

Stitches wasn't stupid but he was no evil genius either. The way he saw it, he had two options. He could wait for Sue to grow up and they could try again to achieve world domination. Or he could hand baby Sue over to some orphanage and find some other villain who needed a flunky.

Going to Sky High, he had been an outcast. Not only a sidekick but an annoying sidekick with a penchant for pranks. It wasn't his fault that most of those hero types had no sense of humor. Despite the regular beatings and the disapproval of the staff ("Not even sidekick-worthy," one of them had sniffed when they thought he couldn't hear them,) he'd never let them get him down. Life was too short and there was too much fun to be had to care what others thought.

Sue had been his only friend in that time. Well, not friend exactly, more like mentor. She hated them all, staff and students, so much that she was willing to help him in some of his pranks on that condition that nobody could figure out that she was involved. Gradually, she'd guided his pranks towards more subtle endeavors. It wasn't long before taking orders from her seemed perfectly natural. When she'd told him her grand scheme to become a villain and take over the world, he's found it so funny that he'd capered all over the room and cackled with delight until her hand closed over his throat, forcing him to stop.

She treated him cruelly perhaps, but there was balance. His natural exuberance and her detached, genius reasoning made them a perfect team. If she was the leader of that team, then so what? He was content to be a follower of hers. His power was super-stamina. He could run for days and not get tired, rarely slept, and had energy to spare. Coupled with a better-than-average agility and speed, it made him the perfect henchman as he skipped and gamboled all around town at all hours of the day, running errands for his Master.

Now their situation was reversed. Sue was the helpless one and he was the one who had to make the decisions. He knew, without a doubt, that if he had been the one infantazized, she'd leave him behind without any regret. But he wasn't her.

Could he really do this? Could he really act as a father and raise this baby up to be a criminal mastermind again? What if he screwed up somehow and instead she ended up as (gasp) an accountant or something mundane? Was being evil in her blood or had something happened in her first childhood to make her the way she was?

She never talked about her childhood. He knew her father was dead and she didn't get along with her mother but that was it. Well, he could be a better father than the one she'd had before. He'd be the best damn father any kid had ever had. The decision came to him as swiftly as most of his whims. He'd raise this baby as his own. And someday, they'd be a team again and Royal Pain would succeed this time. He'd teach her everything he knew and they would rule the world together.

Sue had bought a house under an assumed name and she had a fortune stored in electronic bank accounts. So he could raise Royal Pain back up without the need to worry about the financial costs of raising a child. No one knew that Royal Pain was Sue Tenny or even female but he wasn't taking any chances. Both of them were going to get new names for their new lives.

"Looks like it's just you and me, princess. You're going to need a new name. How does Gwen sound to you?" The newly-named Gwen sucked her thumb contentedly. Fatherhood was going to be so much fun.


	2. Chapter 2

When Gwen was two, she ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. Her face was smeared with the remains of a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.

"Daddy! Daddy! Play with me!" And he twirled with her around the room, matching her leaps and speed until they both collapsed laughing and out of breath.

When she was three, he found that his powers were well-suited for keeping up with a rambunctious toddler who could go for hours. They played Tag and Hide and Seek and he always let her win. She liked to jump out at him from hiding places, yelling "Boo!" while he pretended to be scared.

One day, she jumped out and he let her tackle him. She tickled him until he was gasping for breath with laughter. "Uncle! Uncle!" She stared at him strangely.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I give up. It's just a rule that if someone says that, you have to stop what you're doing."

"But you told me rules were meant to be broken."

"So they are!" And jumping up, he pretended to be a dinosaur and chased a giggling, shrieking Gwen around the house.

When she was four, she listened with solemn, wide-eyed attentiveness as he told her that she was a mighty ruler in exile but she mustn't tell anyone. Because keeping secrets was another sort of game and if she could win that game, she'd grow up to be the queen she was destined to be.

When she was five, he escorted her to her first day of kindergarten and admonished her not to tell the other kids that she was really secret royalty but not to let them push her around either. She looked up at him with brown eyes that practically glowed with happiness.

"Silly daddy! I know how to keep secrets. Love you."

And then she'd let go of his hand and rushed off with the other kids and he beamed with pride. No crying for his little girl or him. This was just the first step back on her way to the top.

When she was six, she presented him with a hand-drawn picture for his birthday. It showed a reasonable representation of him holding up a lop-sided globe. At the bottom was the title, "World's Best Daddy."

When his daughter was eight, he bought her an Erector set for her birthday. Her face lit up and she spent the better part of the day building various models with the pieces. Her powers wouldn't return until puberty but in her hands, the metal pieces could become anything she imagined. His heart soared for his beautiful, talented little girl until the happiness made him start to dance around the room, clapping his hands for joy. Gwen promptly dropped the pieces and ran to join him in dancing to the point of contented exhaustion.

For her tenth birthday, he gave her Sue Tenny's diary among all the other presents. It was locked with some unique contraption of Sue's and he'd never read it. But Gwen figured it out in minutes. Smiling, she hugged the unlocked diary to herself, thanked him, and then sat down and began to read.

At the age of eleven, she asked to see the secret hideout Royal Pain had built to hold all her inventions. He brought her down to the basement and showed her the hidden entrance. Inside, she walked around the room slowly, touching many of the weapons and technological marvels lightly. Her face was blank as she looked up at him and asked him to show her his costume.

So he donned the costume of Stitches and he danced about for her, his jester's cap bobbing in his face. He teased her in Stitches odd voice, not his normal one. She watched all of this impassively and then walked out without a word. He took the cap off and wondered what he'd done wrong.

By the time she was twelve, he was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to be Royal Pain again. She never talked about her destiny or any evil plans. She barely talked to him at all and spent much of her time out with friends. She was much more socially successful than Sue Tenny had been. Sue had been cold, withdrawn, and kept to herself. Gwen was confident and popular. Her teachers sent home notes praising her intelligence, work ethic, and leadership qualities.

Maybe he'd done something wrong in raising her because she seemed more in line to become a politician than an evil genius. Perhaps he should have been sterner with her growing up but it wasn't in his nature to be a disciplinarian. He preferred to have fun. There was also the thought that if she did become Royal Pain, she might take revenge on him for any perceived slight as a child.

"Oh 'Daddy'. Remember when I wanted that Princess Barbie for Christmas and you didn't get it for me?" Bam! Fist-to-the-face time. No, it was easier and safer just to indulge her every whim.

On her thirteenth birthday, he arrived home with her cake and walked into the kitchen to find her standing in the middle of the room staring at her hands. She slowly raised her head and looked at him with a completely overwhelmed expression. Before he could even ask what was wrong, every appliance in the room turned on. The blender blades whirled around while the toaster popped up and down. Electricity crackled out of every outlet and the clock hands began spinning in a blur. He dropped the cake and clapped his hands in glee.

"Daddy's little girl has her powers back! Oh, I'm so happy for you, princess." His first indication that he'd said something wrong was when her expression changed from fear to fury. She lunged forward and wrapped a hand around his throat, slamming him back against the wall. Stitches stared at her in utter shock, for once without words.

"I'm not your little girl! You're not my father! This is all a farce. Now that I have my powers back, there will be no 'princess' or 'cupcake' or 'daddy's little girl.' There's only Royal Pain. But you, Stitches, can call me master. You will do what I say when I say it and I don't want to listen to any of your babbling." Her hand tightened on his throat to the point where he could barely breathe. "Say it and I'll let you go."

"Please,...master, I..." That evidently wasn't what she wanted to hear and her scowl deepened. He finally realized what she wanted him to say. It was so easy to fall back into the role of the subservient again. "Uncle! Uncle!"

The hand was removed from his throat and he shuddered and looked up at her. Thirteen years as Gwen were gone. He only saw Royal Pain staring back at him now. Still, that meant he'd succeeded in mentally rebuilding her as a supervillain and despite his confusion, he couldn't help but giggle just a little. She glared at him but made no move to resume the abuse.

"In public, we will still maintain this charade of a family. But in private, I'm in control. Understood?" He nodded and giggled nervously again. "I'm going to get the Pacifier back but it will take time. I need to make my plan foolproof this time. The Commander and Jetstream will pay for the hell they put me through." Mentally he winced at hearing her childhood with him described as a "hell" but he knew better than to show it.

"Why don't you just build another one, prin...errr, Master?"

"Fool! Some of the components in it are unique. I had to steal some of the rarest items on Earth to make it. There's no way to duplicate it. I have to have it back. My first step is to be accepted to Sky High. Then in a few years, everything will be in place and I will be victorious." She gave him a look of disdain.

"I suppose I should thank you for helping me regain all that I'd lost. I never would have remembered so much of my past if not for you and your stories. As a reward, you get to live. But don't think of crossing me, Stitches."

Crossing her? Didn't she realize that everything he'd done for the past thirteen years had been geared towards this moment? It was almost funny how much effort he'd put in all this time only for her to be clueless as to his true intentions. He giggled again.

It often was the oddest things that struck him as being funny. So people didn't understand why he laughed when he did and wrote him off as a lunatic. Even Gwen didn't understand but that was okay. As long as he understood her, then it would work out in the end. He would be her loyal sidekick no matter what.

It was child's play for Gwen to get into Sky High's records and alter it so that they sent her an invitation to enter the school. There were so many Heroes and Hero Support out there, who bothered to check the background of one girl? Everything was so much easier for Gwen then it had ever been for Sue. The Internet and the leaps and bounds in technology gave her almost unlimited access to anywhere and anything in the world.

She'd told Stitches that her plan was to gain admittance to Sky High, be accepted by everyone there and find a way to get revenge on the Commander and Jetstream. She was determined to use the Pacifier on them and go ahead with her original plan. It might take years but she was patient.

Privately, he thought it a silly plan. She could take over the world so easily now. Why bother with all that nonsense about raising babies as villains? Just destroy the Heroes and be done with it. But he knew better than to voice any such doubts.

Gwen was far more volatile than Sue had ever been. Sue had only hit him when he wouldn't listen. Gwen seemed to enjoy choking him at the slightest provocation. If he were a different person, he might have learned to keep quiet but he couldn't help the unbridled enthusiasm, the fawning remarks that sometimes came out more sarcastically than he'd intended, or the thousand little mannerisms that had been so endearing to Gwen when she was younger. So he learned to live with her abuse and if he had to say "Uncle!" at least once a day, it would be worth it when she succeeded.

Gwen made Hero this time and was privately smug about it. She made her first recruit in Penny Sanders, a snobby girl who could create multiple copies of herself. Gwen Grayson excelled at all of her classes at Sky High. The teachers praised her, trusted her, and gave her responsibilities that only made it easier for her to put portions of her plan into motion when the time came.

Gwen had to be careful and she only managed to make two more recruits over the next couple of years. Stitches thought that Speed and Lash were too undisciplined to be of any use, powerful as they were. But beggars couldn't be choosers. She had to be sure the people she chose could be trusted with the plan. One wrong word and the whole thing would come crashing down on them.

There were students here and there who Gwen thought might make good recruits. A disgruntled freshman who was angry that his powers of sound duplication relegated him to Hero Support seemed promising but Gwen decided he was all talk and no action. There was a girl who kept to herself and barely spoke to anyone that Gwen was keeping an eye on for a while. It turned out she was merely a telepath who was carrying on lively and inane psychic conversations about shoes with her friends while enjoying the peace and quiet of her own table.

Then there was Warren Peace. He seemed perfect for Gwen's plan. Not only was he powerful but everyone expected him to be a villain anyway. Gwen tried every way she could think of to approach him and get a feel for his intentions in life. But he ignored her every effort and eventually she abandoned him as a lost cause. Stitches privately thought she might be a little afraid of the brooding pyrokinetic but it would have cost him his neck to suggest such an idea. So he just giggled over it in private as Royal Pain made sure her armor could withstand high levels of heat.

In Gwen's senior year, she saw her chance to strike. Will Stronghold, the son of the Commander and Jetstream arrived with the freshman class. She was determined to get to them through their son. It proved pathetically easy to manipulate the boy. A warm smile, a toss of hair, and he was smitten. Stitches didn't like this either, even knowing that Gwen was only using him but he kept that to himself as well.

The night that Will walked Gwen home from his parents house, Stitches came to the door, playing the overprotective father. It wasn't difficult to do since he already disliked the Stronghold boy. Not that the little fool was any threat. He looked flustered and was as eager as a puppy to be polite even in the face of "Mr. Grayson's" cold distrust.

As soon as he closed the door, he broke into a fit of giggles over the ease of the deception and then moved aside for Gwen as she ran out to kiss Will goodbye. That just cemented Stronghold's puppy love and Stitches fell over laughing as he watched the boy knock over a lamp post in his enthusiasm. That earned him a good smack from Gwen but it was worth it. Everything was going according to her plan.

The night of the party, he opened the door and took the Pacifier as Speed shoved it into his hands and zoomed back to the party. He looked at the weapon fondly. It's familiar weight brought back memories of Sue and all her wonderfully twisted plans. What fun they'd had together...

It was only a short time later that he looked out the window to see Gwen walking slowly towards the house. Her head was slightly bowed and she looked stunned. He put the Pacifier down on the coffee table and went hesitantly to meet her. She raised her head and looked at her "father." There was the glint of madness in her eyes and he chose his words very carefully.

"Are you all right, master?"

"In the house. NOW." He nearly backed in through the door, afraid to take his eyes off of his adopted daughter. He'd never seen her like this. Both as Sue and as Gwen, she'd had screaming fits where she'd rant and rage about the Heroes and their hypocritical ways. He'd always known enough to stay out of her way and offer no more than quick agreements to her statements. But this quiet, rage-filled stare was something different and despite the nervous grin he wore, he was secretly very afraid. It was always possible that she might be angry enough to kill him despite his devotion.

He stopped in the living room next to the Pacifier, hoping the sight of it would calm her down. She slammed the front door hard enough to rattle the windows and simply stood there, fists clenched, and breathing deeply. She wasn't even looking at him. Her gaze was fastened on the Pacifier.

"HOW DARE HE? THAT MISERABLE LITTLE BRAT. I'LL MAKE HIM PAY. HOW DARE HE TURN ME DOWN!" Everything electronic in the house began to sizzle. The hands on the mantel clock began to spin wildly, every light in the house flickered, and the T.V. came on, the channels flipping far too fast to even register their images.

Stitches stood perfectly still, not daring to move a muscle until Gwen suddenly slumped to the ground and buried her head in her hands. Everything went still again. Part of him wanted to put his arms around her and comfort her as he'd done when she'd been little but he valued his life too much to risk trying it.

Will had actually dumped Gwen? The boy must be mad. He was lucky that a pretty, smart girl like her would even give him a second look. Of course, she was only using him to get at his parents but he didn't know that. Stitches imagined the look on Stronghold's face when his parents were blasted into infants in front of him and grinned widely. Oh, he'd pay for hurting Stitches little girl, yes he would.

The next day, a poised Gwen held a meeting at the house for her little gang. There was no sign of the crying, angry girl that had come home the night of the party. This was all Royal Pain standing at the front of the room in full armor except for the helmet.

Speed and Lash were sprawled on the couch with their shoes up on the coffee table. Penny sat in Stitches favorite chair while he stood next to Royal Pain in his jester's outfit. The three teens looked bored but he knew they were all afraid of Gwen, at least somewhat. She was ruthless enough to kill any one of them if she thought they'd endanger her plan and they knew it.

"All of you understand the plan. I'm confident that if you all do your part, we'll succeed. Those fools won't know what hit them and then we'll rule the world together."

Tonight, the heroes and their beloved school would fall. Tonight, Royal Pain and Stitches would have their revenge. Tonight was show time.


	3. Chapter 3

Stitches lay on his bunk with his arms folded behind his head and hummed to himself. He knew it annoyed the guards but there was nothing they could do to make him stop so he kept at it. Annoying the guards and doctors was one of the few pleasures he had in captivity.

He still couldn't believe that it had all gone so wrong. Royal Pain's plan should have worked. It would have worked if not for the interference of Will and his sidekick friends. Stitches should have been the minion of the ruler of the world by now. Instead, he'd been stuck in this small cell with nothing to do for the past month.

After a couple of days in the Sky High detention cell, the prisoners had been taken into custody and brought to a federal penitentiary, awaiting trial. Stitches had been separated from the others as he was the only one they could try as an adult. Penny, Lash, and Speed were to be tried as juveniles and last he'd heard, there was still debate about what to do with Gwen. Did her birth date qualify her as an adult or should they go by her biological age and treat her as a juvenile? It was an odd situation and one that had legal scholars arguing on both sides.

Either way, he wouldn't be allowed to see her again unless she escaped which he had no doubt she would. She was an evil genius and no jail could hold her for too long. Sure, they were probably using drugs on her to suppress her powers but the authorities would slip up sooner or later and then she'd be out. She wouldn't leave him behind. He was her favorite helper and father figure. She wouldn't leave him here to rot.

For someone with as much boundless energy as him, being stuck in this tiny cell with nothing to do was pure torture. So he found his enjoyment anyway he could. He knew his cell was being monitored so sometimes he'd sing whatever songs came to mind at the top of his lungs for hours until his throat hurt. One day he'd been especially amused to sing the same song all day over and over again until the guards got so fed up they'd had the doctor sedate him. Any day he could get under their skin was a good day.

They were hoping he would crack and confess everything to save them the long drawn out process of a trial but he was a lot stronger than anyone believed. Oh sure, he was a lunatic by their standards but that just made resistance easier. A sane man would have cracked under the pressure that first week.

But Stitches laughed his head off every time one of the psychiatrists suggested that he'd get better treatment, maybe even time in the rec room, if he'd just cooperate. He'd spent seventeen years raising a supervillain from infancy so she could take over the world and they thought a little isolation was going to break him? That was nothing compared to seventeen years of wiping runny noses, bandaging scraped knees, and finding ways to keep a child genius occupied and happy. Fatherhood had prepared him for anything they could dish out. He wouldn't betray Gwen no matter what they promised.

He was allowed books to read in his cell but not newspapers or television. Still, he'd heard enough information from the guards and the doctors to piece together what had happened after his arrest. Will Stronghold and his friends had been hailed as heroes for stopping Royal Pain and her followers. The Pacifier had been destroyed and all the babies had been restored to their normal ages. Which was too bad because Stitches could have accepted defeat easier if he knew Will had to care for his infantazized parents. What good would victory have done him then?

Night time was the worst. He didn't need much sleep and spent much of the night simply lying in darkness as his mind raced. There were fewer guards near him at night and he couldn't sing or talk constantly so he spent the nights in silence. Sometimes, he would hear other inmates yelling and screaming at night but the section he was in was reserved for low-level criminals, sidekicks, and the like. It wasn't as though he had to listen to the supervillains ranting about their foiled plans.

He preferred not to dwell on the past anyway. They'd lost. It sucked. Time to move on and consider possible avenues of escape. Although really, until Gwen came for him or there was some kind of mass breakout attempt, he wasn't going anywhere. The guards were too careful for him and his powers weren't conducive to an escape. That's why they hadn't even bothered to drug him. What good did super-stamina do him in here except to annoy the guards?

Sometimes, just for a change of pace, instead of singing he'd spend all day literally bouncing off the walls. He'd jump onto the bed, jump off again, and repeat as long as needed. Or he'd do exaggerated karate movies, pivoting around the room and hacking at imaginary foes. Sometimes he'd even sing while he did it. It was all quite amusing and he wondered if the doctors taped his performances and used them as blooper reels during their psychiatric conventions. Let them go on underestimating him and thinking him merely a witless, capering fool. It would make his escape that much more satisfying.

He had been in the prison six weeks, four days, fifteen hours, twenty-seven minutes and eleven seconds(although it felt more like an eternity) when the inevitable happened. It was dark out, well after midnight, when the alarms began going off. That meant there was trouble somewhere in the prison. He jumped off the bed and peered out the narrow slot into the dark hallway but there was nothing to see. Hopefully it was Gwen, but even if it was someone else, there was a chance he could escape in the confusion and release his master.

The alarms cut off in mid-peal and every door on the ward suddenly unlocked. That had to be Gwen. Who else could control the electronic locks? He ran out into the dark corridor. The other inmates were stumbling out as well, disoriented and half-asleep, but he disregarded them. The exit signs were the only source of illumination as he took off towards the maximum-security wing where Gwen would be waiting for him.

Royal Pain had once considered a plan to break several villains out of the penitentiary, including the notorious Baron Battle. Their rampages would have made a nice cover for her own, more subtle crimes and by the time the heroes rounded them all up, they'd be too tired and distracted to pose a threat to her. So she'd memorized the floor plans of the jail and made Stitches do the same. She'd ultimately dropped the plans once she'd decided the other villains were too much of an unknown quantity but he still remembered the exact layout of these buildings.

Every door was unlocked just as he'd known it would be. Inmates were running wild everywhere and the few guards he saw were more interested in containing them then in paying heed to one skinny, harmless-looking man who ran from them rather than attacking. They probably thought they could round him up later with the other crazies.

The violent ones were the ones to watch out for for him as well as the guards. Twice, he was forced to hide, first in a closet and then a bathroom as some dangerous inmate thundered down the hall, attacking everyone they could see. The only thing that prevented wholesale slaughter was that the ones with powers were still drugged and couldn't do damage with anything more than their fists, feet, and in one incident that he saw, their teeth.

He was worried about the more violent inmates in the maximum-security wing but when he arrived there, none of the cells were open except for one in the middle of the corridor. A quick glance at the nameplate told him this was Gwen's cell but she was nowhere in sight. The lights were still on here but the security cameras were off-line. Carefully, on the highest alert, he continued down the hall as fast as he could, hoping to run into her.

Stitches could feel the stares of some of the imprisoned inmates as he passed and it made him jumpy but there was nothing he could do to help them even if he were the suicidal type. There were beings in this section that made Royal Pain look harmless in comparison. She wanted to rule the world and if some people had to die for her to achieve her goal, then so be it. But she'd never been one to commit mass slaughter just for fun like one of the inmates whose name he happened to glance at as he passed. With a shudder, he hurried on through the hall.

"Release me." He froze at the soft, commanding voice coming from the cell to his left. "Release me and I shall reward you most handsomely."

Stitches glanced up at to meet the black eyes of the man peering through the slot. There was nothing but madness in those eyes. He glanced at the name on the door and then started as he realized who it was. Despite himself, he grinned. It was lunacy to tease someone this dangerous, even if they were caged and drugged into submission, but no one had ever accused him of being sane.

"No, sorry Baron. I'm in a hurry but I'll be sure to say 'hi' to your son next time I see him. He's quite the hero these days. Takes after his mom I guess. Bye!" As he skipped off, Baron Battle began to scream and curse at him but he heard none of it. All his attention was on finding Gwen.

The hall eventually led him to a large recreation room and that was where he found Gwen. She was still dressed in the regulation gray jumpsuit but her attitude and posture were all Royal Pain. A few guards lay sprawled out on the floor, either unconscious or dead; he didn't know or care which. Penny, Lash, and Speed were with her. They all started when they saw him approaching and then relaxed when they realized who it was.

"I know you'd escape, Master! That's my clever little girl. Now we can get back to our plans for world domination." He clapped his hands in glee as he danced up to her. She looked at him with such disdain that he actually froze in mid-step and stumbled a bit.

"You must be joking. Why would I bother with you any more, Stitches? You were defeated by a bus driver with NO POWERS! You're useless to me. At least they got defeated by people with actual powers." She swept her hand out to indicate the other three teens but her cold eyes never left his face. He assumed they were smirking at his shocked expression but his gaze was fixed to Gwen's. He stood there in shock, too startled to even breathe for a moment.

"But master, I'm your faithful sidekick. What will you do without me?" His mind seemed to be frozen. Nothing made sense. How could she even think of leaving him behind after all he'd done for her? Where were Penny, Speed, and Lash when she'd been a helpless baby in his arms? So he'd gotten careless and been defeated. It wouldn't happen again. She couldn't do this.

"I've just released a whole wing full of villainous sidekicks who will be happy to serve me and my plans. I don't need you anymore. If you want to escape, feel free, but it won't be with us."

This was a nightmare. It had to be. On the rare occasions where he actually slept, he tended to have weird dreams. It was the only explanation. Alarms suddenly wailed out again and all the lights flickered. Gwen glanced up as though she could see through the concrete walls and a flicker of unease crossed her face.

"We're leaving. Go where ever you want but don't try to follow or no amount of 'Uncles!' will save you from me." She turned and walked away and the other three followed. They were smirking. He could see that now. The doors on the far wall opened to Gwen's powers. He could see open air beyond them and freedom. She stopped at the door and addressed him one final time without turning around.

"Better hurry. The heroes are on their way to stop us. I'm going to open all of the cells. You'd be wise not to be here when that happens." There might have been a hint of concern in her voice or maybe it was just his imagination. She walked out and her helpers followed.

Stitches had never been this conflicted in his life, even when he'd had to decide what to do about Pacified Sue. Gwen couldn't really mean what she'd said, could she? Was this all a test of his loyalty? If he went running after her, threw himself at her feet, and begged for another chance would she agree or just kill him on the spot? Would death be preferable to the overwhelming idea of being alone and unwanted, rejected even by hs own daughter?

The alarms kept shrilling and he heard a click as all of the cells were opened at once. The thought of Baron Battle coming after him, broke him from his frozen stance. He ran for the open doors. As long as he was still alive, there was a chance she'd relent but he was no good to her or himself if he was dead.

The air outside was cool and calm. He looked up at the stars and breathed a sigh of relief at being outside again. But there was no time to enjoy himself. There was a glint of light hurtling towards the jail and he knew it was one of the Heroes. He wasn't sure which one but he had to leave now.

Gwen and company were nowhere in sight, probably long gone thanks to Speed but the wall around the prison was breached. He ran through it, and into the grasslands surrounding the prison. There was no cover for a long way except for a copse of trees on the horizon which was a deliberate part of the security methods. It made it easier to see escaping prisoners.

He started running and the prison suddenly lit up with light and sirens behind him but it wasn't for him. The spotlights were all turned inward. Dimly, he could hear explosions and the sounds of fighting getting softer behind him as he got farther away. The supervillains were loose and the Heroes were too busy fighting them to notice or care about him.

Stitches reached the distant trees and kept going. He ran for miles just as he had with baby Sue but the only burden this time was his own bewilderment. He still couldn't believe she'd rejected him like that. Sure she was evil, but she'd always rewarded loyalty before.

He kept running all night and eventually he realized that he was instinctively heading to where the Strongholds lived. It was where Gwen would go to get her revenge and if he could find a way to help her, she'd take him back with open arms.

The only thing he was certain of was that he had to win back Gwen's approval. His whole purpose was to serve her. It had been for a very long time and he wasn't about to stop now. The first glimmerings of a plan began to appear in his mind. It just might work if he could pull it off. Stitches and Royal Pain would be a force to be reckoned with and the Heroes wouldn't know what hit them. It would be just like old times.

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"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." From King Lear by William Shakespeare.

Well, there it is, my first Sky High fic. I do plan on writing a sequel to this but there's another Sky High fic I have in mind and I don't know which one I'll work on first. Reviews are appreciated.


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